Reviewed By
Vaughan

Analysis
The first in the 'Cube' series of films is now rightly considered a genre classic with it's strange yet unique story that mixed the horrific circumstances of a seemingly random and innocent group of individuals, with some tense and fascinating human interaction with the overall result being a feature that displayed often chaotic but always compelling drama that produced some gruesome death scenes and compelling mystery.

Given the mystery that surrounds the physical structure of the cube itself, 'Cube 2' seems the perfect opportunity to expand on the firm foundation laid down so expertly the first time around. With no reoccurring characters from the first film to identify with, the main star is indeed the weird prison like maze that our new characters find themselves within and the big question every cube fan want's answering is "What is the cubes purpose'. So is it a logical progression of the story line or does 'Cube 2' wimp out of a straight answer?

The film opens with a stylish technical drawing showing a 2D/3D blueprint of the cubes structure. Dimensions are an important element of this film with it's scientifically baffling talk of a mind numbing 4th dimension and the use of the blue print establishes this point even though, at the start of the movie, it is primarily a subconscious thing. The interior of the cube is then thrust upon us and, to my surprise, now has a clinical and sterile appearance in stark contrast to the much preferable first films dark and atmospheric ambiance.

Slowly we get to meet the characters of the film as they stumble across one another whilst clambering in and out of the identical looking rooms. Once the main group pads out and the interaction commences, you might start feeling a little dejavous (provided that you watched the first film). First and foremost some of the characters are very similar compared to those in the first film. We have the aggressive alpha-male who begins to crack under the claustrophobic hopelessness of his situation. Then we have two characters, a blind girl and an old women, who we are all supposed to feel sympathetic towards and finally we have the level headed woman who attempts to pull the group together in an effort to crack the cubes puzzles. Sound familiar? Well that's because these characters appeared in the first film, albeit with different coloured skin or sex, but they are just too familiar to appear original.

The first film had some fantastic traps that lay in hiding for unsuspecting prisoners to wander blindly into, but this time around instead of cheese wire that literally dices it's victims, we get very occasional and wholly ineffective moving walls and obscure spinning shapes that decrease the random fun element that the first film lavished in. This is the films biggest crime and it is beyond me why the death traps have been removed in favour of a stupid 'entity' that appears to hunt it's pray without actually being the slightest bit exciting or thrilling to watch.

As previously mentioned, be prepared for some serious science as the mystery surrounding the cube comes to light. Theories of parallel realities and quantum universes are banded about by some of the more knowledgeable characters but ultimately the important question of what the cube was actually intended for is still as much a mystery now as it was when the first film ended. Technically, the film uses some very imaginative camera shots in an attempt to convey the feeling of an environment the has no real physical boundaries and with a continually shifting gravitational pull, the result is visually intriguing. Add to this the clever time dilation effects that allow characters to reappear even after being killed, gives the film a gloss that would other wise be missing.

Key Area	Rating (out of 5)	Comment
Action	None	Nothing that could be described as action.
Tension		Tension builds during Geraint Wyn Davies's character interaction scenes that show him losing a grip on sanity and chasing the other characters around the maze of rooms in an attempt to flee his violence.
Violence/ Gore		Bland death scenes that are neither interesting to watch or gruesome enough to promote a physical reaction.
Bare Flesh		One of the later characters to appear has a very brief love scene that shows off her curves.
Plot		Not original enough considering the content of the first film and never comes close to developing the story further.

Verdict This is one of those films that, if seen out of order, would actually put you off seeing the first and by far the greatest of the series up to this point. It doesn't develop the cubes premise any further than already established and plays more like a remake than an outright sequel. If you are a die-hard fan of Andrzej Sekula's highly original concept then by all means take the plunge but be warned, it will probably leave a nasty taste in the mouth.

Movie Pictures (Click picture to enlarge)